


Don’t Go There—The Nate Vs. Tara Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 06:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7255330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You don’t want to do this,” Nate lamented as he watched Tara come closer.  Takes place after The Bottle Job, season two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don’t Go There—The Nate Vs. Tara Job

**Author's Note:**

> Rewatched The Bottle Job. There were some lines in there that inspired this fic. Enjoy!

Takes place after The Bottle Job, season two

Don’t Go There—The Nate Vs. Tara Job

“You don’t want to do this,” Nate lamented as he watched Tara come closer.

It had started out as a match of wits. Tara, with her boldness, had challenged Nate to a duel of wits.  During the next con she was involved in, she told him that if she figured out how many times the mark would fall for her charms, then he’d have to pay up big time.  Her score was four.  Nate thought she’d only be able to charm him twice.  The mark went for the gold though and surpassed both their estimates by five.  Nine times the mark had pawed her, kissed her, and at the end, attempted to manhandle her.  Tara had actually counted that one.  So she was closest. Only Nate wasn’t buying it.

“I’m closest, so I win.”

“It was a number, not closest wins.”

It was late that night, after the mark was taken in for questioning that they finally arrived back at Nate’s place. Nate was tired and didn’t really want to deal with Tara at the moment.  Only Tara didn’t seem to be tired and was goading him on.  Between Sophie leaving, not having her there to help him plan the cons and the fact that she was a half a world away from him had already taken a toll.  Keeping the team together was difficult enough.  Dealing with a wild card such as Tara made it more than a full time job.  Sophie was always there to deal with the nuances of the team while he could concentrate on the plan.  Now she wasn’t there to do it.  The team, essentially, was on its own.  Emotionally, he was a wreck.

“Ok, whatever.  You win.”

“And what do I get for winning, Nate?” Tara asked, standing not two feet away from him.

“Bragging rights.  Tell them whatever.”

Tara smiled his way.  “They probably won’t care.  I think my prize needs to be more tangible, say, I don’t know, you wait on me for three days.”

“Not gonna happen,” Nate announced as he walked past her.

Tara grabbed his arm to stop him.  The last time someone touched him was before Sophie left for Europe.  It felt foreign.  Parker never touched anyone unless prompted.  Eliot only touched when fixing someone up from being hurt.  Hardison touched, but usually at the wrong times, but was learning when and where.  Sophie was the only one who touched each and every one of them.  Nate was the only one where she was careful when and where.  Oh how he missed that.  She’d sometimes fix his hair, pulled up his tie, squeeze his hand in encouragement, hand him a piece of paper but accidentally stroke his hand.

Tara’s hands were bigger, not as delicate, and somewhat stronger than Sophie’s.  He eyed her, thinking that if he challenged her with just a look, she’d let go.  She didn’t.  She only got closer.

“Not so sure about that.”

The hand that had stopped him was replaced with a hand that traveled up his arm, his neck to his hair.

“Tara,” he growled at her, hoping she’d stop what she was doing.

That’s when he pointed out that she really did not want to mess with him.  He’d had too many drinks, had too much time to brood and think about what a mess his life was.

“You are fun to play with,” Tara said as she pulled him toward her.

Tara was tall for a woman, almost as tall as Nate was.  It didn’t take much for her to cross the distance between them and capture his lips with hers.  And what a talented mouth she had.  The combination of the whiskey he’d downed in quick succession in addition to Tara being so close to him made Nate dizzy.  The fact that he really couldn’t breathe probably made it all more so.  He really, really did not want to touch her.  Tara was not taking no for an answer.

With his hands at his sides, the only thing contributing to the kiss was his mouth.  Tara didn’t seem to mind one bit. 

“Tara, you should stop,” he mumbled as her tongue traced his ear, sending shivers everywhere.

She delved in again, ramped up her roving hands.  He attempted to stop her from touching him all over, but his hands became entangled with hers.  Over her shoulders then down her back, he could feel her now pressed against him tightly.  Her whole body was on fire and so was his.  He needed to stop this before it went too far.  His need for touch, for validation that he still existed wouldn’t be solved by Tara. 

Stopping her wandering hands, he pulled them down to her sides.  She then proceeded to try and get him going again, but he closed his eyes and literally gave up, placing his head against her shoulder.

“Tara, I can’t.”

“I know.  Dammit, Nate.  Just dammit.  God, I hate it when Sophie is right.”

With that, Tara pushed him away and grabbed her coat, rushing out the door, slamming it in finality. 

 

Tara reappeared two days later, acting like nothing had happened.  She was cheery and as always full of herself.  The con was an easy one, with only a few days of planning and probably a week’s worth of work tops.  She’d earn a good payday from it, Nate thought.  Then maybe she’d be out of their hair for longer or maybe for good.  He just couldn’t take having to deal with her after what happened.

“Nate?” Tara questioned.  “Got a minute?”

Nate rolled his eyes, but moved her way, away from the others in the back of the bar.

“I wanted to apologize.  Too much whiskey, too much of me being an ass.”

The others waved goodbye as they exited the back door.

“Um, yeah, about that.  It’s just not a good time.  We just…”

“You don’t have to explain.  I’m not stupid.  You are a little too irresistible.”

“Huh?” he wondered.  He was irresistible?

“Sophie kept going on and on over the years about the great Nathan Ford and how irresistible he was and how she…”

Nate’s eyes widened in astonishment.  Sophie had talked to Tara about him?

“She what?  How much she couldn’t stand to be around me?  How much she wanted to leave?”

“No, not that at all.  Nate, she really does care about you, probably more than anyone.  You could even say it was love, but Sophie has always guarded that word very closely.”

Nate sighed and turned away from Tara, not wanting her to see the turmoil on his face.  She was just as good at reading people as Sophie was.  That didn’t mean she always took the right approach to people though.

“She left me, Tara.  And I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Hey, she just needs time.  Trust her.  She trusts you.”

Nate didn’t believe that at all.  He actually thought in the back of his mind while Tara was trying to stick her tongue down his throat that it would be easy just to let her in, if just for that night.  He wasn’t attached or married, just one miserable son of a bitch.

“I don’t trust me.  What does that say?”

Tara took the opportunity to give him a quick kiss, then backed off.

“That you’re a good man, mostly.”

Nate didn’t believe that anymore.  Maybe once, when he was chasing Sophie, before he’d fallen for her, maybe he was a good man.  But now he was one arrogant bastard with a mean streak a mile long. 

“You care about people, which is more than most could say.  It’s a mean world out there.”

“So, what do I do?  Just wait?”

“She waited for you for over ten years.  You can give her a few more months.”

And it was only a few more months before Sophie came back, to save him.  He realized while she was gone that he needed her more than anything.

One night, a few months after the team broke him out of prison, Nate sat across from Sophie, planning the next con.  They’d pushed each other back and forth over the last few months, making it even more difficult to work together, but he’d not have it any other way.

“Why’d you come back?” he asked as he handed her a piece of paper.

“Huh?  What?  Nate, what’s bothering you?”

“Answer the question.”

Sophie sat across from him at the dining room table.  Avoiding looking at him, she crossed and uncrossed her arms, looking as if she was very uncomfortable with his question.

“You said you needed me.”

“I do.”

“Do you need me for just the con or is it you?”

“Me. Only me.”

“Good.  Now that’s settled.”

Nate shook his head to clear it.  He told her that he needed her and she did not call him on it.  It was like she believed him.

“Believe it.”

“Yeah.”

Sophie reached over and touched his hand.  That meant all the world to him.  It wasn’t about how much or how little she was there for him, it just mattered that now she was. 

 

 


End file.
